What: Charlotte Hornets (6-13) vs Toronto Raptors (9-12)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Raptors–Statement (black)
Game Lines: Hornets +4.5, O/U 223.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Mark Williams-questionable (back), LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Cody Martin-out (knee), Frank Ntilikina-out (leg), Nick Smith-out (probably) (ankle)
Raptors: *sigh* none…
There are few things more frustrating than when the Hornets play a team and I desperately try to find an injury report, but the opponent just isn’t injured. Not a one. I don’t know what the Hornets have done to deserve this, but the basketball gods clearly hate them. To add injury to insult (and also injury), Nick Smith Jr. sprained his ankle playing for the Swarm after six stellar minutes highlighted by 14 points. Playing well for the Hornets is basically a Final Destination movie at this point.
Anyway, the Raptors. Those guys. They’ve been pretty bad lately after a mediocre start. They’re losers of four of their last five games with the one win coming against the Suns of all teams. They play pretty slow and their offense has been sluggish, but they share the ball well, which means they’ll probably give the Hornets defense problems.
The Raptors aren’t unlike the Hornets. They have a young star that they hope to build the franchise around. They have a veteran player that does a lot of scoring but probably isn’t everyone’s favorite right now. The rest of the roster is a bunch of pretty good players but lacking in star power. The result is a team that can beat good teams but also loses a lot. They’re purgatory buddies.
The Hornets come into the game also losers of four of their last five, but they have the opposite problems as the Raptors. The offense has been decent during the losing streak, but the defense has been even worse than its league worst defensive rating for the season. There’s no one area that’s been egregiously bad, but everything has been different levels of bad. They’re fouling too much, giving up too many open threes, and giving up too many baskets on the inside. They’re doing done of the things that Steve Clifford preaches and usually gets through to his teams. For whatever reason, this group just can’t do it.
It’s an almost identical match-up as Wednesday’s game between the Hornets and Bulls. This time though, it’s on the Hornets home floor (though that hasn’t been an advantage this season). The Hornets need to start putting some wins together soon before this becomes yet another lost season.
